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Sunday, December 7, 2014

MASSIVE Support from Agencies Across Canada for Non-Enforcement of C-36

OVER 60 AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS CALL FOR NON-ENFORCEMENT OF C-36 AND FULL DECRIMINALIZATION OF SEX WORK

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December 6th: National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women

December 6th is the National Day of Remembrance and Action for Violence Against Women, which commemorates the anniversary of the gender-based murders of 14 young women in Montreal, Quebec (1989) at l'École Polytechnique de Montréal. On this day we remember these 14 women who died due to gender-based violence, while addressing the ongoing violence that women face across Canada.

On December 6th 2014, the Canadian federal government will enact Bill C-36, the erroneously-named Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, which will re-criminalize sex work while recreating the harms and violence experienced by sex workers under the previous laws criminalizing prostitution.

Bill C-36 replaces the three key provisions of the Criminal Code that were struck down by the Supreme Court on December 20, 2013 in the landmark case, Bedford v. Canada.

Bill C-36 recreates the harms of the provisions struck down in the Bedford case, allowing the epidemic of violence against sex workers to continue. Bill C-36 views all sex workers as victims of violence, rather than understanding that it is criminalization, isolation, and the denial of rights and freedoms that breeds violence and exploitation against sex workers.

As sex workers around the globe have pointed out for decades: We need the full decriminalization of sex work to ensure the safety, dignity and security of all sex workers and recognize that enforcement disproportionately targets Black, Indigenous, Migrant, Transwomen and street-based sex workers.

We call for:The repeal of Bill C-36 and the full decriminalization of sex work in CanadaLegal and labour rights for sex workersProvincial and Municipal non-enforcement of Bill C-36The destigmatization of sex workThe recognition of the dignity and value of sex workers

On this day we remember those who have died as a result of gender-based violence, over 1200 documented missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and those that still walk with us and continue to experience violence; physically, emotionally, spiritually and systematically.

On this day we join together to fight for the elimination all forms of violence against women, including Bill C-36, which will criminalize sex work and isolate sex workers, pushing them into harm’s way.